


Of Love and Other Monsters

by fojee



Series: Puzzle Pieces [12]
Category: I Remember You - Fandom, Korean Drama, 너를 기억해 | Hello Monster
Genre: Kidfic, M/M, Multi, Original Character - Freeform, alas, because there's a young child in the house, but no porn, fluffy and disturbing, hahaha, time skip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-11
Updated: 2015-10-12
Packaged: 2018-04-25 19:44:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4973668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fojee/pseuds/fojee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>We'll get our happy ending, come hell or high water.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Keep the Home Fires Burning

**Author's Note:**

> Will be an odd duck in terms of timelines. Basically I'm all over the place, as usual. Guys, this will be the last story for this series, though I will post some meta after. Thanks for everything! 
> 
> Also, beware, there's a lot of fluff and schmoop in this one. It's the first of three parts, and each is a bit of a stand-alone.

I. Keep the Home Fires Burning

Hyun looks bewildered as Lee Joon Young spritzes on cologne, then brushes back his newly-cut hair. The man had put on a brand new polo, and was _whistling_. "What are you doing?"

"He's going on a date," Min answers from one side of the bed. He is lying on his stomach, doodling in a sketchpad, looking completely bored.

"I'm establishing a cover," Joon Young corrects. "You could very well do the same. Especially since the two of you can barely keep your hands off of each other in public."

Hyun flushes at that, but Min only shrugs. "People are stupid." Nobody in the room disputes his statement.

"Still, what woman would--" Hyun gestures at Joon Young. 

"I happen to be very eligible," Joon Young pretends to look offended. 

Sometimes it freaks Hyun worse when Lee Joon Young plays at being normal. It must show on his face, because the older man drops the mask.

"She's a single parent, burdened by worries about money and her own desirability. She also has relatives abroad. I'll marry her so she can feel more secure, then send her there so she can raise her son with a better support system."

" _Marry_ her?" Hyun blanches. 

Min laughs. "After everything we've done, are you squeamish about committing adultery?"

Hyun bites his lip. "It's not that. I just don't feel right about deceiving someone and going so far as to marry them." He feels like a child throwing a tantrum.

Joon Young observes him, then steps closer to where he's sitting on the side of the bed. Hyun tilts his head up to sustain their eye contact. Joon Young leans down, mouth hovering over his. 

"There are some other options."

"Like what?" Hyun almost-whispers.

"Hmmm. I'll have to think about it," Joon Young says, straightening again and fussing with his hair some more.

"Wait, are you still going out with this girl?"

"I'll simply flatter her, but present myself as ineligible, so she can choose not to call me. No need for excessive cruelty, Hyun-a." 

After he leaves, still whistling that annoying tune, Hyun flops back on the bed, sighing. "What options?" He mutters.

\---

"Meet the woman who saved me," Joon Young says and there's a tender expression on his face. 

Hyun stands up. She has one of those faces that look youthful, but he guesses she is about Joon Young's age, and maybe even a bit older. She is smiling, but there's something wrong with her eyes, like she's seeing other people besides the ones who are really there.

He holds out a hand, and she pats it instead of shaking it. "Park Joo Ah," she says. "And you are Lee Hyun and Lee Min."

Min remains seated in Lee Joon Young's living room but he nods at her. "Ahjumma."

"Have you met before?" Hyun asks his brother, feeling a bit left out.

"Yes," the woman answers. "Though he might have been too young to remember. I looked after him sometimes when Joon Young was busy."

"No, I remember," Min smiles at her. "You read books and sang songs to me."

"How did she save you?" Hyun interrupts.

"She let me out of my cage," Joon Young says softly. "I grew up without once looking at the open sky, treated like an animal by my mother and her family. Park Joo Ah-sshi opened a door and freed me. Then she painstakingly taught me how it is to be human. I owe her a great debt."

Park Joo Ah shakes her head. "Stop romanticizing the past, Joon Young. I merely made a choice, which we all have had to live with."

Hyun turns away from her and catches the gentle look in Joon Young's eyes directed at her. He bites his lower lip. "Is she the other option you were talking about?"

Joon Young's eyes widen and his smile turns sly as he meets Hyun's gaze. "Yes. In fact, how would you like to help me plan my wedding?"

Hyun chokes on nothing.

\---

"Why now?" Hyun asks when Joon Young offers to show him the house he grew up in.

"Maybe I was waiting for when you were ready to understand," Joon Young holding out a hand for Hyun to take. "Park Joo Ah-sshi was right. My history is not a dashing adventure. It's ugly. I didn't think you'd appreciate knowing about it."

"I can guess at a few things," Hyun says guardedly even as he slips his hand through the other man's. His sessions with Choi Eun-Bok and the many hints dropped by both Min and Joon Young himself had already given him some idea of what had happened.

Together they walk through the gate into the courtyard of a big house. There are no broken windows, nor peeling paint. And even the grass in the front lawn is trimmed neatly. But the house still exudes a feeling of years and years of emptiness. 

Joon Young leads him through the front door. The walls and furniture are made from richly stained wood. But it is otherwise bare, of paintings, books, and other knick-knacks. 

Hyun is silent as they go up the stairs and into one room. It has windows, but the glass is opaque, and there are bars in a lattice over each one. The whole room is empty.

"This is where I grew up," Lee Joon Young says softly. "It's the only thing I remember. Years and years of being surrounded by these same four walls, the locked door. They didn't even give me a bed, though in winter they gave me blankets. There's a bathroom at least. Small kindness in the face of all their cruelties." The look in his eyes gives Hyun a chill. 

"Would you rather tell me the rest elsewhere?" He asks, sliding his hand from Joon Young's grasp and up the man's back. He can read the tension there, a sort of readiness he associates with Joon Young at his deadliest.

Joon Young accepts his urging and they go down again and out the back door into a small garden. Hyun spies a bench there and leads the other man to sit out under the sun. "Go on," he murmurs.

Joon Young uncharacteristically takes a deep breath. But when he speaks again, his voice is as steady as always. "I didn't know _why._ They locked me there, fed me meagre meals alongside regular beatings, and nobody would even tell me why. They called me a monster. So I became one." He looks down at their intertwined hands. "Do you remember what I told you years ago?"

"I remember," Hyun says in a half-whisper. He also remembers Joon Young's voice in his father's interview tapes. The man was telling the truth after all, and his father had not believed a word.

"Later, Park Joo Ah-sshi told me how I was born. My mother was a young girl when she was assaulted and raped by a man. They should have had me aborted, but they were Catholics and considered it a sin. So instead, she gave birth to me in secret and I grew up without ever being registered as part of the family. To everyone in this neighborhood, I didn't exist. After a few years, my mother committed suicide, and then I got free and killed everyone else."

Hyun squeezes the hand in his. "Why don't you tear this place down? Why keep it as is?"

Joon Young looks up at the old house. "It serves as my mother's tomb. Her bones lie in one of the rooms. They couldn't bury her after what she had done to herself ."

Hyun is reminded of when the other man came with him to visit his father's grave. "What about your father? Did they ever catch him?"

"They didn't, but I did." There is a note of such satisfaction in Joon Young's statement that Hyun doesn't have to ask what happened to the man.

Hyun is silent for a long moment, then looks up at the blue sky, bright and serene, a visceral reminder that they all choose how much of the past they carry with them. "Were you serious, about getting married?"

"It diverts suspicion, gives me respectability," Joon Young says. "And it protects Joo Ah further."

"But," Hyun interjects. "What will happen now? How will things change?"

Joon Young turns to him. "Do they have to?"

"Of course they will," Hyun says impatiently. "She'll be living with you. You'd have even less time to spend with us. Maybe you'll even start your own family."

Joon Young smiles at the thought. "But I already have one of those," he says, pulling Hyun's hand up to kiss the back. 

Hyun rolls his eyes. "I'm being serious here."

"Well, so am I," Joon Young says before sighing. "She's not going to replace either of you. She'll be free to go her own way while I go mine."

"But you like her." Hyun hates how uncertain he feels. "She's special to you."

Joon Young stands and then crouches down in front of Hyun. "Will you trust me?"

Hyun bites his bottom lip. "You know I can't just do that without an explanation."

Joon Young grabs both his hands and asks, "Lee Hyun-sshi, will you come and live with me? Will you be my family for the rest of our lives?"

Hyun's cheeks feels fever-hot. "Min, too?" He can't help but ask.

"Of course. We can ask him together later," Joon Young says. 

"But where? Which house? What will we tell--" 

Joon Young silences him with a kiss. "Will you trust me?" He asks again.

This time a dazed Hyun answers, "Yes."

\---

The house burns all night.

Hyun watches it with mixed feelings, Min standing beside him in the glow of the flames, but far from the drifting smoke. Sirens ring through the night. And still they watch.

In terms of time, they haven't spent that long in this house. It was barely a year after they moved in that their father died there. This house was marked by his death the same way their old place was marked by their mother's murder. 

After the night he was orphaned, Hyun moved in with his foster-mother, and the house lay abandoned for sixteen years. And yet all this time, he couldn't bring himself sell it, because it felt like the last link he had to Min. Like if he came back, Min would still be there, waiting.

 _And that's exactly what happened_ , he thinks, smiling suddenly. Hyun grabs Min's hand, and kisses his knuckles, uncaring if anyone sees. 

As adults, they have their share of memories of this place. Eating together, sleeping together, laughing, crying, loving and hating. 

"Will you miss it?" Min asks.

"Why should I? I have you now." _Still,_ Hyun thinks, _it was beautiful._ He remembers seeing it for the first time at ten years old and marvelling at the all the open space, space to run around in, to explore. Space that was his to clean, to decorate. Space that he had done his best to turn into a home. Even with all the horrors that followed, he had not let it go, because it had been _his_ in all the ways that mattered.

The fire was not Hyun's idea. 

But maybe it was the right one, because he finds within himself a lightness he did not expect to feel. He had remembered everything--climbing into his brother's bed to calm him after a nightmare, burying dead birds and dogs in the backyard, poring over anatomical texts with Min so they could draw bodies in their sketchbooks, his father's hand gripping hard on his shoulder as he teaches him in the basement, while Min called for him through the wall, and that night, the noises, the fear mixed in with anticipation as the door finally opened and he saw Joon Young and heard him speak. The house had been an anchor somehow, something that tied him down, something composed entirely of shards of lost memories. Every thing in it had been a piece of a puzzle he had put together. 

And yet this is the first time he realizes he is ready to let it go. The past is really past. And the future is on the other side.

The firemen finally arrive to douse the flames. The two brothers turn from the scene, get into a car, and drive away. 

Their new home is waiting. Lee Joon Young is waiting.

\---

"Do I want to know how long you've been planning this?" Hyun asks as soon as he steps inside the door. 

The house is amazing. The floors are inlaid with wood, in a pattern that reminds him of France. There are windows everywhere covered in white and blue curtains, and bookshelves line every room. The kitchen looks like it has been tailor-made for him. And it is spacious enough for two cooks to move around each other, as he and Joon Young has learned to do. 

He loves the heavy wooden dining table, its edges carved with a futuristic pattern. It mixes well with modern chairs that looked almost like pieces of art themselves. And on the walls hang some of Min's abstract pieces in different sized canvases. Purple skies, red and gold flowers, white birds, blue trees, black shadows.

Min is already poking into the little studio on the second floor.

It's not amazing; it's perfect.

"It's been a dream of mine, you know, to live together with you," Joon Young says from over his shoulder. Hyun turns, laughing, and kisses the other man. It starts out light and teasing, but then Joon Young backs him against a kitchen counter and deepens the kiss. They're still at it when Min tromps heavily down the stairs.

"You started without me," he says with a pout.

Hyun pushes Joon Young away. "I smell like smoke anyway. I have to take a shower first."

Min's eyes lit up. "Wait til you see the master bathroom."

Hyun smirks. "Race you." The two brothers run for the stairs, jostling at each other with their elbows. 

Joon Young listens to their laughter echoing in the house. _Ah. Is this what this feeling is? Happiness?_ He presses his fist over his heart. It feels strange.

\---

Hyun hangs the apron around Min's neck, and ties the strings at his back.

"Do I have to do this?" He whines.

Hyun frowns at him. "No, but it would be nice if you helped me."

Min makes a face, but does as he's told as Hyun carefully walks him through the process. He measures out the ingredients with steady hands. 

The dry ingredients are mixed together, with cocoa powder and espresso powder staining the whiteness of the flour. Then Hyun adds the milk, the eggs, and other wet ingredients. The standing mixer does the hard work while Hyun prepares the frosting. When the batter is aerated Hyun pour the liquid into the pans, tapping it on the counter to keep it even. Then Min carefully slides them into the hot oven.

When the pans come straight from the oven, Min takes a deep breath. It smells amazing, and the cake has a rich almost black color. When it has cooled enough, he watches as Hyun swirls a layer of frosting over the top, and stacks the two to form a higher base. Then he uses the rest of the frosting to cover the whole cake, on top and down the sides. His hands move deftly, his movements sure. Min wants to grab one of them and suck on each fingertip. When Hyun catches his gaze, he smiles. "Later. We can do that later."

Then Hyun hands Min a pastry bag and tells him what to draw on the surface of the cake.

When they present it to Lee Joon Young later, the older man looks surprised then quietly pleased. He kisses them both deeply and insists they share it all. He grabs the serving knife, though his hand hovers a little over the design before he cuts it.

Surrounded by a pattern of roses and thorns are the words: _Happy Birthday. Thank you for being born._

\---

Even though he is the unfortunate person handling all the details of the wedding, in Hyun's opinion, it still comes too soon.

Lee Joon Young and Park Joo Ah are married in a mid-sized hall. The decorations, number of guests, quality of food, and Joo Ah's wedding dress are all commensurate with Joon Young's annual salary as a Medical Examiner. Nothing to see here, move along.

Except of course that Joon Young has a cruel streak a mile wide and invites the head honchos at the police station, including a recently retired Hyun Ji Soo. There are also a handful of people, milling about aimlessly. People who aren't on Hyun's guest list. 

Hyun catches Choi Eun-Bok among them and Min raises an eyebrow at him. Ah, so these are the infamous lost children. When Hyun overhears a conversation around one of the tables, he realizes they're also pretending to be relatives of the bride. Park Joo Ah has none of her own. 

Over the months, he's learned a few things about her: she works as a part-time nurse and doesn't seem to have any female friends. She's moved around a lot. She likes to sew, but she doesn't cook at all, and the one time she tried, she blanked out in the middle and the food burned on the stove. Joon Young gently banned her from entering the kitchen ever again. 

The two of them together are strange to watch. Hyun thought he has seen every side of Lee Joon Young, but he's never seen him be this soft and kind and gentle, and genuinely so. They go on walks together, skirting the edge of the property. Sometimes, they disappear together. And when Joon Young returns, he says they're visiting family. Hyun still wonders what they talk about.

He recognizes this feeling as jealousy, and hates himself for it. 

So he grit his teeth, faked a smile, and planned the wedding. 

At the reception, he greets his foster-mother with a distant nod. She doesn't seek him out, and neither does he take the chance to catch up. Even though they haven't talked since that day, and she resigned just before he did, he knows she is planning to go abroad. She looks happier, though he might not be the best judge of that.

He declines to give a toast, and lets Joon Young's colleagues and acquaintances from school pass the microphone among themselves. Whatever he wants to say is for Joon Young's ears alone. Min, though, takes the opportunity to publicly acknowledge him as 'uncle,' a useful fiction that also gives him the chance to introduce himself to police officers that he might eventually meet as a lawyer.

A handful of the lost children say some rehearsed words for Park Joo Ah, though they all stare at Lee Joon Young throughout the whole thing. Hyun wonders what brought them there. Was it curiosity? A sense of duty? Or maybe a need for closure...

For a second he misses Cha Ji An. 

But the second passes, and he gives her no more thought again.


	2. Habits are Hard to Break

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cha Ji An's happy ending. (This is as good as it gets.)

II. Habits are Hard to Break

Cha Ji An gets assigned to a robbery case, along with Officer Choi, the rookie who had impressed her sunbae so much. She's seen him around the bullpen. He's a nice-looking kid, quiet and hard-working. 

After they collar the suspect, she claps him on the shoulder casually. "Hey, wanna get some drinks? My treat."

He chews the inside of his cheek before saying yes.

They wind up in a tent, drinking soju and eating some dried squid. 

"It's a little more quiet without David around, isn't it?" Cha Ji An says almost wistfully.

Choi Eun-Bok shrugs.

"Do you still have therapy with him up at the university?" Cha Ji An tries, and mostly fails, to sound casual.

He looks at her with an unreadable expression, which reminds her painfully of that jerk. "No," he finally says. It's obviously a lie, but one that she has to accept at face value. Then he leans forward. "You know he's gay right? Don't waste your charm on someone like him, noona. Can I call you noona?" He smirks at her.

"Ya!" She protests, even as she thinks, _You're pretty good at changing the subject, Choi Eun-Bok-sshi._

He laughs at her, and the sound is so pure and clear and infectious that Cha Ji An finds herself laughing too.

When they finally stop, Choi Eun-Bok leans back on the rickety chair. "I don't know what's going on between the two of you, and I don't wanna know. That's my new policy in life."

Cha Ji An crosses her arms. "Really?"

"Yeah. And as for my going to therapy, believe me, it wasn't my idea. But David invited me to a session because he thought I'd benefit from it. Now he has no say in the matter. So no, I don't go to therapy anymore."

"Why did David think you'd need it?"

Eun-Bok shrugs again. "He went through the files of all the rookies. I was just a lucky test subject. As for why, let's just say I had a crappy childhood."

Cha Ji An immediately feels guilty. She raises a glass to cover it up. "I'll drink to that. To crappy childhoods."

Their glasses clink together and they each drink a shot of soju.

"So can I call you noona?" Eun-Bok asks again with a cheesy smile.

Cha Ji An almost spits out the drink in her mouth.

\---

In her professional opinion, Dr. Lee Joon-Ho is a godsend. On one particular gruesome case, she ends up sleeping in his office, while waiting for him to finish the autopsy of the bodies that washed ashore. Even through the door the smell is terrible, and it leads her straight into a nightmare. 

She is standing on a shoreline watching her father's water-logged body walk through the middle of a river. He walks and walks, hands like claws reaching for her, until he grabs her by the leg and pulls her into the water, holding her under as she drowns.

She wakes up with a gasp. Dr. Lee is bending over her, his face full of concern. "Are you alright, Officer Cha?"

Cha Ji An almost falls out of the couch trying to sit up as quickly as possible. "Yes, I'm fine. Sorry." She wipes her mouth in case she drooled, and then looks down at the handkerchief he is offering. 

"You were crying," the doctor says softly.

Cha Ji An feels her eyes well up with even more tears, and she blinks them away furiously. "Thank you," she mumbles, grabbed the handkerchief and scrubbing her face with it. The folded square is plain white and neatly ironed, and smells nice, like vanilla and rain. 

Dr. Lee sits down beside her. "Maybe you should go home and get some actual sleep. The other day you told me you fell asleep in the elevator. And then you said you sometimes fall asleep while brushing your teeth. Narcolepsy is a worrying symptom, Officer Cha."

"It's nothing. Just the work, you know," she says, dismissing his words. "I'll sleep when we've caught this bastard. I just have to see it through."

"There will always be another case after this one," he says to her. "And another, and another. You need to strike a balance between what the job requires and what your body needs." 

Cha Ji An nods dutifully, but the doctor sighs, as if realizing she isn't really listening. "Fine. I'm not that kind of doctor, but I'm still writing you a prescription." He grabs a notepad from his desk and writes something on it, then rips it out and hands it to her.

Cha Ji An squints down at the paper. It says, _lunch with Dr. Lee x 3._ "Lunch?"

"Three times a week," the doctor reiterates. "If you're busy, text me and I'll see if I can come to where you are. If not, just come here. It won't take too long, and we can talk about your cases, too, so technically you'll still be working."

Cha Ji An frowns. "What kind of lunch?" She asks him.

Dr. Lee Joon-Ho smiles. "The kind my nephew's boyfriend makes every day. He's a great cook, you know."

She laughs even as her heart beats faster. "Is he still unemployed?"

The doctor laughs with her. "Yes. He does some lectures at the university but there won't be any new openings until next school year, so he's still mooching off of Sun-ho."

Cha Ji An shakes her head in disbelief. "What does he do all day then?"

The doctor shrugs. "Cooks and cleans mostly. I tease him about being perfect wife material."

Cha Ji An tries to picture Lee Hyun in a white wedding dress and busts a gut laughing.

The doctor smiles at her. When she stops laughing, he holds out a hand to her. "So I'll see you three times a week?" 

She nods shyly, shaking his hand. "It's a deal."

He stands up and opens the door. "Ready?"

Cha Ji An takes a deep breath, and then immediately regrets it as the smell registers. She chokes on it, and has to swallow a few times to keep down the bile in her throat. The doctor hands her a tin of menthol to put under her nostrils. "I guess I am," she mutters and follows the older man's white-clad back out the door. Yay dead bodies.

Sometimes she really questions her life choices.

\---

The year she turns thirty, a lot of things happen. She makes detective, which she thought she'd be happier about. But it's just work, work, work and no real time to celebrate. Dr. Lee has to force her to stay in one place long enough to present to her a celebratory cake, a small white and yellow thing with congratulations written on top of the icing. 

She wants to ask if Lee Hyun made it, but she's too embarrassed to. 

She ends up eating it with her aunt that night. It tastes really good, but afterwards, she finds herself crying for no fathomable reason. She feels ten again, and the yearning for her dad like a black hole in her chest. Her worried aunt stays the night and sings her to sleep.

That's also the year that a task force is created and her sunbae recommends her to be a member. They get assigned a team leader and at first he's just terrible, a man so full of hot wind that it's amazing he doesn't blow away.

But Team Leader Kang grows on her. He's just so earnest and eager to learn, that eventually Son Sunbae stops rolling his eyes, and starts teaching him the basics. Like he's just another hoobae to him. In fact, everyone on the team could be termed Detective Son's protégées. 

It's good. It starts to feel like family.

And then on her actual birthday, she receives an envelope through quick delivery. And inside it is a map with an x marking a spot.

She knows as soon as she sees it _exactly_ what it means.

Twenty years after he disappeared, the remains of Cha Ji An's father are finally found in the middle of an open field. She manages to hold back her tears, except that Team Leader Kang grabs her in a hug, and she just breaks, sobbing into his chest like a child. He strokes her back, and blinks back tears himself. And when she has calmed down, she couldn't look him in the eye for three whole days.

They start a hunt for Lee Joon Young. But the trail is cold, and they find nothing. The older cops all refuse to cooperate. And the original fingerprints are never found. 

The one time she asks Dr. Lee Joon-Ho if he could contact Lee Hyun for her, his face changes. "I know it must be hard, Cha Ji An-sshi. But we're all in this business because we've lost people or because we're looking for justice of some kind. It's not the healthiest of jobs to be in, but it's something we choose. Lee Hyun has chosen another path. Please respect that choice."

She never brings it up again. And neither does he.

So she throws herself into her work. More late nights and bleary eyes. More collars as she guns for criminals like there's no tomorrow. More commendations which she shoves into a drawer beside a picture of her father. And she gives it a hundred ten percent of her energy. Her aunt starts to show her worry by sending her too much food that she doesn't eat. And her superiors are making noises about burn-out. Only Dr. Lee keeps quiet about it, but he watches her the rare time she makes it to their lunch-dates.

Until one day she comes too close. A killer manages to get through her defenses and stabs her in the gut, and then runs away, leaving her on the cold, hard ground, thinking this is it, her whole life will just end like this. 

Her last thought before the darkness engulfs her. _No! Not yet. I'm not ready yet..._

\---

She wakes up in a hospital room, with Team Leader Kang holding her hand. And she takes a deep breath, feels the ache of the wound echoing the ache she has lived with for twenty years.

It's a new day. A new beginning.

The next time the team leader bumbles through asking her out, she says yes. 

(There's a big hullaballoo and she ends up getting transferred to another team, but oh she never regrets it.)


	3. What's Bred in the Bone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hyun falls in love. (The world needs to watch out.)

III. What's Bred in the Bone

When Park Joo Ah drops her news, Hyun drops a plate.

"You're what?" He asks.

"Pregnant," she repeats calmly. "Three months along."

Hyun frowns down at her still-flat stomach. Min leaps up and hugs her impulsively, while Joon Young watches Hyun kneel down and carefully pick up the shards of the broken plate.

"Shouldn't you congratulate us, Hyun-a?" He asks mildly.

Hyun sweeps the rest away with a broom and dust bin and throws the mess in the garbage, before looking up to glare at him. "Are you sure you should be procreating? Or raising any sort of baby?"

Park Joo Ah grabs his arm and pulls him down to a chair beside her. "Just because someone's broken, doesn't mean they don't have the capacity to love a child. And that's the most important thing, isn't it?"

Hyun closes his eyes. "Whatever. It's your marriage. And it's your baby. So nothing I say will make a difference, anyway."

Lee Joon Young's brow wrinkles briefly. Hyun has had the hardest time adjusting to their new living conditions. Even though Park Joo Ah has her own room, and goes off to work every day and stays mostly out of sight when she's home, Hyun's dislike is so very obvious. And made even more so by the thin veneer of politeness that he wears in front of her. 

Mealtimes are so tense, that Joon Young feels his back cramp in sympathy with the way Hyun holds himself. It all disappears whenever they fuck, but then they wake up and it's back again.

Park Joo Ah catches his eye and nods at him. He nods back. The baby is necessary after all.

"You're right," he says, voice cold and flat. "No matter what you say, the baby will arrive into this world in seven months. I'm merely asking you to treat Park Joo Ah with more consideration. Stress is not good for her body right now."

"Fine," Hyun says in a tone that perfectly matches his. Then Min sits on his lap and nibbles at his ear and his mouth twists into something that resembles a smile. "Alright. I'll behave," he promises. "You have to tell me if you are craving something to eat," he offers Joo Ah as an apology. He's taken over the cooking duty for everybody and has meal planning down to a science.

And even though it's still awkward, he keeps his promise. But there's a gnawing sense of discontent as he watches her stomach grow in the passing months. He alternates from making sure Park Joo Ah is healthy and comfortable to inwardly cursing the baby in her stomach. Stupid parasitic creature.

All his jealousy and malice disappear the moment he meets her: his little princess. Lee Sun Hee, born with ten tiny fingers and ten tiny toes, a healthy set of lungs, and full head of hair. 

Hyun looks through the glass in the nursery and whispers, "She's perfect."

\---

"Could you take her?" Park Joo Ah holds Sun Hee out to Hyun. He cradles the baby instinctively, rocking her a little so she doesn't start fussing. Park Joo Ah, buttons her top. "There's not much milk anymore. We're going to have to switch to a bottle soon."

Hyun nods. He already bought everything they could possibly need and he's read all the books he could find on the subject so he feels less like he's in over his head.

"That's perfect because my leave will be done soon."

Hyun frowns. "Wait, you're not taking a full year off?"

Park Joo Ah stands up from the rocking chair beside the window and smooths out the blanket in the crib. She takes Sun Hee and lays her down gently, and grabs the baby monitor as she leaves the room.

Hyun follows her silently. She walks out on the balcony on the second floor, and turns to him with the railing behind her. "I'm leaving in another month."

Hyun shakes his head. "What do you mean you're leaving?"

"I've stayed too long as it is," she murmurs as if she hasn't heard anything, turning her head to look at the horizon.

Hyun represses the impulse to grab her by the arms and shake her. "Does Joon Young know about this?"

"Of course," she says simply. "He knows everything."

"What about Sun Hee?" Hyun asks through the growing lump in his throat.

"I'm leaving her in your care." She smiles at him. "You're good with her."

Hyun runs a hand through his hair and blows out a breath. "Will you come back?"

Her expression turns vague. "Some time," she answers. 

Hyun loses it then. "Why did you bother giving birth to a child if you can't even look after her?"

"We did it for you," Joon Young answers from behind him, and Hyun whirls around in surprise.

"What are you talking about? What do I have to do with it?"

Joon Young walks closer and touches Hyun's jaw in a light caress. "You need to be needed. And Min needs to be reassured that you'll stay. Sun Hee accomplishes both tasks." 

Hyun shakes his head. "She's not just a thing you can give to people, Joon Young. She's a human being."

Joon Young looks at him blankly. Hyun stifles a hysterical laugh. Of course the other man wouldn't get it. Since most people are just things to him. 

"You love her," Joon Young says. It's not a question but Hyun nods anyway. "Then I don't see what the problem is."

Hyun presses his palms to his eyes. "Except I'll have to turn down the full-time professorship after all. If I'm going to be her primary caregiver, quitting is probably easier. You can't just drop these things in my lap and expect me to cope. We're supposed to talk about these things together."

Joon Young immediately looks contrite. "Of course. Sorry, Hyun-a."

Hyun makes a face that causes the older man to laugh. He doesn't trust that apology. "I mean it, Joon Young," he says, with a sudden soberness. "No more surprises. Especially not about Sun Hee. Promise me that, at least."

Joon Young pulls him into an embrace. "I promise," he whispers into Hyun's hair. 

This time he even means it.

\---

Park Joo Ah leaves as unceremoniously as she arrived. One morning, she's just gone. 

"Where is she going?" Hyun asks Joon Young, who is still reading the letter she left behind.

Joon Young shrugs. "She'll know when she gets there."

Min leans on Hyun's back, and grabs a piece of toast from the table. Nobody has any energy for much elaborate cooking these days. Even Min, who absolutely refuses to damage his dignity with diaper-changing duty, looks a little ragged around the edges from lack of sleep. Lee Sun Hee has quite the lungs on her.

"She's awake, I think," he mumbles indistinctly through the mouthful of toast.

Hyun groans and stands up from the kitchen table, back throbbing. Min spins him around and steals a quick kiss before he's out the door. The traitor. Joon Young raises an eyebrow as he sets the letter aside, and grabs the newspaper instead. 

"A bunch of irresponsible jerks," Hyun mutters under his breath as he heads to the nursery to scoop up Sun Hee. She reaches both hands up to bang on his chin, and he peppers her face with kisses. "Good thing you've got me, don't you, sweetheart?"

Sun Hee gurgles her agreement.

\---

Days turn to weeks and weeks turn to months. The life of a baby is both an exercise in monotony--eat, sleep, cry, pee, shit--and the most exciting thing to ever happen to Hyun. He fills up an entire hard drive of pictures and videos, Sun Hee's firsts carefully recorded. "So we can show your mom," he murmurs to her as he cradles her close. 

The first time Sun Hee pukes all over Min is one of Hyun's favorites. Oh, but if looks could kill... 

Joon Young, on the other hand, is unfazed by the bodily fluids that his daughter emits. "I've smelled worse," he says with a wink. 

The one time Sun Hee gets sick, Hyun makes Joon Young take some time off to help out. 

"She's _your_ daughter," Hyun says.

"Is she?" Joon Young asks with a teasing smile, but does as he's told.

Then Sun Hee turns two and starts talking. And walking. She makes up names for things and babbles in what sounds like complete sentences. She stumbles around on shaky feet and holds his hand when they go to the park together.

And the true horror of this endeavor dawns on Hyun. The house needs to be baby-proofed. At one point, he will have to start leaving her in the company of strangers. And before that happens, he is entirely responsible for her formative years. He, who feels like he has never actually been a child. And the only help he has are two people who sometimes look at Sun Hee like an interesting creature to be dissected. 

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," he murmurs as Sun Hee sleeps comfortably on his chest, her tiny hand clutching at his shirt. "But we're probably going to fuck this up. I hope when you're all grown up, you won't hate us too much."

\---

Just like that, five years pass in the blink of an eye.

With Sun Hee going to school, Hyun finds himself with time to breathe. He has been writing articles, doing peer reviews, and doing occasional lectures just to keep his hand in. This year, he finally finishes his book. It's a fictional novel, arranged like a mystery-thriller; it's not something he had ever planned on writing. But somehow making it fictional gave him the license to come as close as he dared to the truth. Plausible deniability, Joon Young calls it.

He publishes it through a local company with the caveat that he remain out of the spotlight. The publisher runs with it and suddenly he's a mysterious recluse who has never been photographed or interviewed. Hyun lets them. It's easier to live the way he wants when nobody is after him, when nobody wants a piece of him, and nobody is looking over his shoulder.

But in his complacency, he forgets that danger lurks in every dark corner, and safety is just an illusion. Hyun is handed a sharp reminder one afternoon.

"What are you saying?" He asks, temper slipping as he takes a step toward the poor girl. "Where the fuck is my daughter?"

The girl at the school looks up at him with large eyes that fill with tears. "I'm sorry, sir. But he said he was Sun Hee's uncle. And another parent was speaking with me, so I didn't have time to confirm before he left with her."

Hyun thinks about crushing her head with his bare hands. She must have noticed his expression, because she takes a couple of steps back. With an effort, he brings himself under control. "Could you identify this man again? I can have you work with someone to come up with a sketch."

He's already dialling Min's number before she even nods. Min, luckily, is just getting out of court and could head straight to the kindergarten. His second call takes longer. Lee Joon Young is in the middle of a case, and is supervising the transport of a dead body back to the morgue for an autopsy.

"I need you here," Hyun says, hating how his voice breaks.

"Just get as much information as you can. I'll come after I'm done. The sooner I finish the autopsy, the sooner I can go home," Joon Young says evenly. "You'll get her back, Hyun. I know you will."

Hyun's grip tighten on the phone, and the plastic of it creaks. But he accepts it.

When Min arrives, Hyun buries himself in his brother's arms for one brief moment, not even caring when the girl's nose wrinkles in disgust at this display. No matter what happens, Sun Hee will never go back here again.

But right now she's still useful. Between them, they extract as much detail as they can from her. Min comes up with a sketch. At first glance, Hyun thinks the man in the drawing is a generic thug. But he takes a picture and sends it to both Joon Young's and Choi Eun-Bok's phones, tersely informing the latter about what happened. 

Then he and Min use the copier at the school on both the sketch and a blown-up picture of Sun Hee that Hyun always keeps in his wallet, and they go in opposite directions, trying to look for witnesses. It's the kind of legwork that always seemed futile and boring when he was working with the police. But Hyun's desperation has him grasping at straws. 

An hour later and they at least know the general direction the abductor took, but then Joon Young calls. "I know who it is. Come to the morgue."

When Hyun and Min both arrive, Choi Eun-Bok is already there. He stands up and squeezes Hyun's shoulder for a second before letting go. Eun-Bok is better at that nowadays. It helps that he babysits for Sun Hee sometimes, and has had to endure the little scamp climbing him like a monkey. He wants to get her back as much as anyone else in the room.

Joon Young motions them into his office. 

"Did you get a call?" Hyun asks him breathlessly.

"No, but I expect to. I know what this is about," Joon Young says flatly, and with a gloved hand opens up a little bag and pours its contents out in a pan, the kind he uses for organs. Tiny diamonds cascade onto the metal surface, and the sound is loud in the small space of the office. "I found this in the stomach of the latest body."

Hyun's mind races through the implications. Whoever it was managed to snatch Sun Hee within a short period of time. How did they guess the body would be autopsied by Joon Young? And how did they find out Sun Hee's schedule so quickly? There would be more than one person involved, and diamond smuggling means a crime syndicate is the likely culprit. 

"I can get into the open cases for similar operations," Choi Eun-Bok offers. Joon Young nods at him and he turns to go. Min goes out, too, and examines the body still on the table. Hyun and Joon Young follow him after the latter carefully puts the diamonds back in the bag, and then in another one, tagged as evidence.

"There aren't any distinguishing marks," Min says. "They're not dumb criminals, at least."

Hyun grits his teeth, wanting to be doing something more than talk about the culprits. He has to struggle to get back his equilibrium, and for a second, he envies the other two for their cool heads. Joon Young peels off his gloves and slides a hand up his spine, to settle at the back of his neck.

"Eun-Bok-sshi already identified the abductor. This one, too, is in the system, though their charges are quite different. The victim's abdomen has faint scars and the stomach lining has distinct marks, so he's done this before. We'll find out who did this," Joon Young assures them.

"And then?" Min asks, eyes on Hyun's face.

So it's Hyun who answers. "And then we make them pay."

\---

By the time the kidnapper gets around to calling, the three are already taking positions around the compound, with Eun-Bok bringing up the rear. 

Joon Young's instructions to him were very clear. "Take Sun Hee out and keep her safe." He's seen what they brought with them. And the three are wearing dark raincoats. And he could recognize the looks on their faces, because he sees that same look sometimes, reflected back in his mirror. He doesn't bother to argue.

Joon Young's phone has already been put in silent mode, but it lights up with an unknown number. He cocks his gun before picking up.

A man's raspy voice greets him. "Annyeong, Dr. Lee. I wonder if you are as intelligent as I've heard."

"You want the diamonds in exchange for my daughter," Joon Young says evenly, even as Min picks the lock on the door.

The man laughs. "Indeed. Give the man a prize. I was waiting for you to call the police, but instead you called family. Does that mean you'll be smart about this? I'm an easy man to deal with, Dr. Lee. I just want what's mine."

"Then you'll get it," Joon Young murmurs, before ending the call, disabling the battery and slipping it into his pocket. He nods at the others, and they head inside, moving quickly on silent feet. He had looked at the blueprints, and knew exactly where to go. And anyone who stood in his path, well, there was a reason he put a silencer on his gun. Neat and clean. There will be time to play later.

When they reach the room they wanted, Eun-Bok slips off, killing a couple of guards with a knife before unlocking the door where Sun Hee is being kept. The young girl is asleep on the floor, hands tied behind her back, though she had no blindfold on and he could see the tear tracks on her face. It means they hadn't been planning on giving her back. Alive, at least. Eun-Bok slides his knife back into its sheath and scoops her into his arms. He heads out of the compound as quickly as possible. 

Sun Hee wakes up before they reach the door, and she whimpers, thrashing in his arms, but Eun-Bok covers her mouth with a palm. "It's safe, sweetie. You're safe now," he murmurs. She quiets immediately, and in the dim light, she looks up at him with too-old eyes. 

When they make it out, and Eun-Bok gets her in his car, he takes the time to untie the rope binding her wrists. And Sun Hee asks him a question in a high, clear voice. "Are my daddies gonna kill them?"

Eun-Bok stops what he's doing and looks at her. "Sweetie," he begins, though he's not sure exactly what to say.

But he didn't have to. Sun Hee nods decisively. He finishes freeing her, and she launches herself at him. "Thanks for saving me, oppa."

Eun-Bok hugs her close. "Of course. I'll take you home and we'll wait for your daddies there, okay?"

They drive off, and neither of them looks back.

\---

Somewhere inside the compound, Min hands Hyun and Joon Young a hatchet, one for each of them. And between the gunshots and the sharpened edge of the hatchets, they paint the walls red with blood. 

They leave one man for last, a heavy-set man in a well-cut suit, with a distinct, raspy voice.

Hyun looks down at him while he begs for his life, while Joon Young's foot presses down on his neck. He wonders if he should be feeling something. Something other than the determination and banked rage. Joon Young meets his eyes, and nods. And he swings the hatchet down one limb, then another, and drinks in the screams.

This will never happen again. The world better realize it fast. 

\---

Lee Sun Hee crosses her arms and looks down at the boy sprawled on the ground. He is curled up and holding that place between his legs. Sun Hee leans forward and whispers, "If you ever touch me again, I'll make sure you'll wake up one day with no hands."

The boy cries grow louder, and the teacher rushes in, and Sun Hee gets called into the principal's office. "You realize I'm going to have to call your father, don't you?" The principal tries to intimidate the young girl sitting primly in the chair across his desk.

"Which one?" She asks, almost kindly. "My abuji is busy dissecting a dead body, and my appa is busy putting bad guys in jail. And my daddy..." Her voice trails away.

"What about him?" The principal attempts a smirk, but sweat already beads along his forehead. 

"Well, it depends," Sun Hee says, voice lowering. "On what mood he's in."

The principal scoffs. "He just works from home, doesn't he?" He's heard rumors about Mr. Lee Hyun, the one who brings in the most delicious casseroles for the PTA meetings, and fusses over his daughter in the parking lot every morning. He was of a certain persuasion, they say. Not much of a threat.

Sun Hee glares at him. "He kills people for a living."

The principal pales. And Sun Hee smirks. With any luck, she can get kicked out of this school, too. And anyway, it isn't lying. Daddy's mystery books are full of dead people, and they're selling a lot in the bookstores. 

The last one is even dedicated to her. _To my daughter,_ it says in the fly-leaf. _Someone to live for, someone to die for, someone to kill for._

The End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't mean to inflict a kidfic on you guys. No, that's a lie. I had this in mind from the start, because nothing says happy family more than three dudes raising a daughter together. Hahaha. Partly inspired by a T-Drama called Two Fathers. (And of course, that old movie Three Men and a Baby.)
> 
> As I said, this is the end. But please feel free to get inspired and write your own stories in this verse, or aus of this au. And I will also try to include some deleted scenes in the DVD extras so you'll have that to look forward to. 
> 
> Thank you all!


End file.
